This is the first volume in this established
series to have come my way and it encourages me to investigate
the earlier volumes - perhaps to be included
in a future Download Roundup. If I had paid attention to the reviews of the
earlier volumes by Jonathan Woolf and other colleagues, I’d already have
known what to expect (see below).: As I was about to finalise this review,
Jonathan Woolf has beaten me to the post again: his review of Volume 10 can
be found here.
It says all that I wanted to say about the Sonatas, so my detailed comments
will be on the Tombeau.

After all those appreciative reviews, what more is there to say? My first encounter
with the music of Weiss came courtesy of Julian Bream, playing the baroque
guitar. That recording is still available on RCA Silver Seal, coupling a Weiss
Suite in d minor with the Bach Lute Suite No.1, BWV996 and some shorter pieces
by Bach, Sanz, Sor and Visée. Alternatively, the Bach, Visée
and Weiss are coupled with Scarlatti on The Julian Bream Edition, Volume 9,
RCA 09026 61592 2. Both are hard to come by; I can’t even find a current
catalogue number for the Silver Seal - UK customers may need to import.

Bream was, of course, a pioneer in the rediscovery of the baroque guitar and
lute repertoire. I wouldn’t for one moment wish to be without those volumes
of the RCA Julian Bream Edition which I managed to purchase before most of
the series was deleted, but modern performers such as Barto outshine him in
one important respect. Though Bream seems to have captured the right style
and to have empathised with the music from the start - the Silver Seal recordings
were made as long ago as the mid-1960s - you have to tolerate a degree of extraneous
noise, from fingers momentarily flicking the strings.

The miracle of modern performers such as Barto is the complete absence of these
extraneous noises. I didn’t hear a single unwanted sound during the whole
74 minutes, and that inevitably added to my enjoyment of the playing. Barto
is not alone in this respect, of course; other performers, such as Nigel North,
share the ability - see my review of
his Bach on the Lute (Linn CKD300), which I made Download of the Month
in March, 2009.

Barto’s rival in Weiss, Jakob Lindberg, also has the ability to combine
absolute affinity with the music with a flawless technique. He, too, seems
to be embarked on an extended series of recordings of Weiss for BIS and he
has made at least one recording of his music for the Polish Dux label. (DUX0581
- see review by
Glyn Pursglove). I listened to his performance of the Tombeau sur la mort
de M. Comte de Logy on Volume 2 (BIS-CD-1534), courtesy of passionato.com -
a fine performance, which brings out the depth of feeling in the music, but
which costs more than the Naxos, even in download form (mp3 £7.99, lossless £9.99).

Lindberg places the Tombeau in the centre of his programme; Barto concludes
with it. I can’t say if this placement had any influence on my reaction,
but I thought that he brought out all the pathos which Lindberg finds, together
with an extra sense of warmth. I seem to recall that Logy had been Weiss’s
teacher, though I can’t find confirmation in any of the books which I
have to hand; if so, the relationship was personal and, in any case, the admiration
seems to have been genuine. To say that Lindberg’s performance of the Tombeau is
analytical and Barto’s emotive would be to stretch the contrast too far:
both are good. Subscribers to the Naxos Music Library who would like to make
the comparison themselves can find both albums there - the Barto here and
the Lindberg here.

A third version of the Tombeau, from Hopkinson Smith on Auvidis Astrée,
fine player though he is, seems to me not quite in the same category - not
as focused as the other two. There are just a few of .those extraneous noises
here, too. The programme as a whole is worthwhile, coupling the Tombeau with
a Sonata in a minor, Fantasia in C and Sonata 48 in f# minor. (E8718: see also
Zane Turner’s enthusiastic review of
another Hopkinson Smith recital on E8908).

Barto’s tenth volume of Weiss offers a most entertaining programme, well
recorded - close but not over-close - and, as usual with Naxos, presented with
short but informative notes and with a cover illustration from a contemporary
painter. I shall watch out for future releases. It joins a recent recording
of the early works of Sor, played by William Carter, as one of the most enjoyable
instrumental recordings to which I have been listening recently. That Sor recording
is on Linn CKD343 -
on SACD and a variety of download formats: expect a more detailed recommendation
in a future Download Roundup.

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